Podcasts about mountain village

The Storm does not cover athletes or gear or hot tubs or whisky bars or helicopters or bros jumping off things. I'm focused on the lift-served skiing world that 99 percent of skiers actually inhabit, and I'm covering it year-round. To support this mission of independent ski journalism, please subscribe to the free or paid versions of the email newsletter.WhoGreg Pack, President and General Manager of Mt. Hood Meadows, OregonRecorded onApril 28, 2025About Mt. Hood MeadowsClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Drake Family (and other minority shareholders)Located in: Mt. Hood, OregonYear founded: 1968Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass – 2 days, select blackouts* Indy+ Pass – 2 days, no blackoutsClosest neighboring U.S. ski areas: Summit (:17), Mt. Hood Skibowl (:19), Cooper Spur (:23), Timberline (:26)Base elevation: 4,528 feetSummit elevation: 7,305 feet at top of Cascade Express; 9,000 feet at top of hike-to permit area; 11,249 feet at summit of Mount HoodVertical drop: 2,777 feet lift-served; 4,472 hike-to inbounds; 6,721 feet from Mount Hood summitSkiable acres: 2,150Average annual snowfall: 430 inchesTrail count: 87 (15% beginner, 40% intermediate, 15% advanced, 30% expert)Lift count: 11 (1 six-pack, 5 high-speed quads, 1 fixed-grip quad, 3 doubles, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog's inventory of Mount Hood Meadows' lift fleet)About Cooper SpurClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Drake FamilyLocated in: Mt. Hood, OregonYear founded: 1927Pass affiliations: Indy Pass, Indy+ Pass – 2 days, no blackoutsClosest neighboring U.S. ski areas: Mt. Hood Meadows (:22), Summit (:29), Mt. Hood Skibowl (:30), Timberline (:37)Base elevation: 3,969 feetSummit elevation: 4,400 feetVertical drop: 431 feetSkiable acres: 50Average annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: 9 (1 most difficult, 7 more difficult, 1 easier)Lift count: 2 (1 double, 1 ropetow – view Lift Blog's inventory of Cooper Spur's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himVolcanoes are weird. Oh look, an exploding mountain. Because that seems reasonable. Volcanoes sound like something imagined, like dragons or teleportation or dinosaurs*. “So let me get this straight,” I imagine some puzzled Appalachian miner, circa 1852, responding to the fellow across the fire as he tells of his adventures in the Oregon Territory, “you expect me to believe that out thataways they got themselves mountains that just blow their roofs off whenever they feel like it, and shoot off fire and rocks and gas for 50 mile or more, and no one never knows when it's a'comin'? You must think I'm dumber'n that there tree stump.”Turns out volcanoes are real. How humanity survived past day one I have no idea. But here we are, skiing on volcanoes instead of tossing our virgins from the rim as a way of asking the nice mountain to please not explode (seriously how did anyone make it out of the past alive?).And one of the volcanoes we can ski on is Mount Hood. This actually seems more unbelievable to me than the concept of a vengeful nuclear mountain. PNW Nature Bros shield every blade of grass like they're guarding Fort Knox. When, in 2014, federal scientists proposed installing four monitoring stations on Hood, which the U.S. Geological Survey ranks as the sixth-highest threat to erupt out of America's 161 active volcanoes, these morons stalled the process for six years. “I think it is so important to have places like that where we can just step back, out of respect and humility, and appreciate nature for what it is,” a Wilderness Watch official told The New York Times. Personally I think it's so important to install basic monitoring infrastructure so that thousands of people are not incinerated in a predictable volcanic eruption. While “Japan, Iceland and Chile smother their high-threat volcanoes in scientific instruments,” The Times wrote, American Granola Bros say things like, “This is more proof that the Forest Service has abandoned any pretense of administering wilderness as per the letter or spirit of the Wilderness Act.” And Hood and the nation's other volcanoes cackle madly. “These idiots are dumber than the human-sacrifice people,” they say just before belching up an ash cloud that could take down a 747. When officials finally installed these instrument clusters on Hood in 2020, they occupied three boxes that look to be approximately the size of a convenience-store ice freezer, which feels like an acceptable trade-off to mass death and airplanes falling out of the sky.I know that as an outdoor writer I'm supposed to be all pissed off if anyone anywhere suggests any use of even a centimeter of undeveloped land other than giving it back to the deer in a treaty printed on recycled Styrofoam and signed with human blood to symbolize the life we've looted from nature by commandeering 108 square feet to potentially protect millions of lives from volcanic eruption, but this sort of trivial protectionism and willful denial that humans ought to have rights too is the kind of brainless uncompromising overreach that I fear will one day lead to a massive over-correction at the other extreme, in which a federal government exhausted with never being able to do anything strips away or massively dilutes land protections that allow anyone to do anything they can afford. And that's when we get Monster Pete's Arctic Dune Buggies setting up a casino/coal mine/rhinoceros-hunting ranch on the Eliot Glacier and it's like thanks Bros I hope that was worth it to stall the placement of gardenshed-sized public safety infrastructure for six years.Anyway, given the trouble U.S. officials have with installing necessary things on Mount Hood, it's incredible how many unnecessary ones our ancestors were able to build. But in 1927 the good old boys hacked their way into the wilderness and said, “by gum what a spot for snoskiing” and built a bunch of ski areas. And today 31 lifts serve four Mt. Hood ski areas covering a combined 4,845 acres:Which I'm just like, do these Wilderness Watch people not know about this? Perhaps if this and similar groups truly cared about the environmental integrity of Mount Hood they would invest their time, energy, and attention into a long-term regional infrastructure plan that identified parcels for concentrated mixed-use development and non-personal-car-based transit options to mitigate the impact of thousands of skiers traveling up the mountain daily from Portland, rather than in delaying the installation of basic monitoring equipment that notifies humanity of a civilization-shattering volcanic eruption before it happens. But then again I am probably not considering how this would impact the integrity of squirrel poop decomposition below 6,000 feet and the concomitant impacts on pinestand soil erosion which of course would basically end life as we know it on planet Earth.OK this went sideways let me try to salvage it.*Whoops I know dinosaurs were real; I meant to write “the moon landing.” How embarrassing.What we talked aboutA strong 2024-25; recruiting employees in mountains with little nearby housing; why Meadows doesn't compete with Timberline for summer skiing; bye-bye Blue double, Meadows' last standing opening-year chairlift; what it takes to keep an old Riblet operating; the reliability of old versus new chairlifts; Blue's slow-motion demolition and which relics might remain long term; the logic of getting a free anytime buddy lift ticket with your season pass; thoughts on ski area software providers that take a percentage of all sales; why Meadows and Cooper Spur have no pass reciprocity; the ongoing Cooper Spur land exchange; the value of Cooper Spur and Summit on a volcano with three large ski areas; why Meadows hasn't backed away from reciprocal agreements; why Meadows chose Indy over Epic, Ikon, or Mountain Collective; becoming a ski kid when you're not from a ski family; landing at Mountain Creek, New Jersey after a Colorado ski career; how Moonlight Basin started as an independent ski area and eventually became part of Big Sky; the tension underlying Telluride; how the Drake Family, who has managed the ski area since inception, makes decisions; a board that reinvests 100 percent of earnings back into the mountain; why we need large independents in a consolidating world; being independent is “our badge of honor”; whether ownership wants to remain independent long term; potential next lift upgrades; a potential all-new lift line and small expansion; thoughts on a better Heather lift; wild Hood weather and the upper limits of lift service; considering surface lifts on the upper mountain; the challenges of running Cascade Express; the future of the Daisy and Easy Rider doubles; more potential future expansion; and whether we could ever see a ski connection with Timberline Lodge.Why now was a good time for this interviewIt's kind of dumb that 210 episodes into this podcast I've only recorded one Oregon ep: Timberline Lodge President Jeff Kohnstamm, more than three years ago. While Oregon only has 11 active ski areas, and the state ranks 11th-ish in skier visits, it's an important ski state. PNW skiers treat skiing like the Northeast treats baseball or the Midwest treats football or D.C. treats politics: rabid beyond reason. That explains the eight Idaho pods and half dozen each in Washington and B.C. These episodes hit like a hash stand at a Dead show. So why so few Oregon eps?Eh, no reason in particular. There isn't a ski area in North America that I don't want to feature on the podcast, but I can't just order them online like a pizza. Relationships, more than anything, drive the podcast, and The Storm's schedule is primarily opportunity driven. I invite folks on as I meet them or when they do something cool. And sometimes we can connect right away and sometimes it takes months or even years, even if they want to do it. Sometimes we're waiting on contracts or approvals so we can discuss some big project in depth. It can take time to build trust, or to convince a non-podcast person that they have a great story to tell.So we finally get to Meadows. Not to be It-Must-Be-Nice Bro about benefits that arise from clear deliberate life choices, but It must be nice to live in the PNW, where every city sits within 90 minutes of a ripping, open-until-Memorial-Day skyscraper that gets carpet bombed with 400 annual inches but receives between one and four out-of-state visitors per winter. Yeah the ski areas are busy anyway because they don't have enough of them, but busy with Subaru-driving Granola Bros is different than busy with Subaru-driving Granola Bros + Texas Bro whose cowboy boots aren't clicking in right + Florida Bro who bought a Trans Am for his boa constrictor + Midwest Bro rocking Olin 210s he found in Gramp's garage + Hella Rad Cali Bro + New Yorker Bro asking what time they groom Corbet's + Aussie Bro touring the Rockies on a seven-week long weekend + Euro Bro rocking 65 cm underfoot on a two-foot powder day. I have no issue with tourists mind you because I am one but there is something amazing about a ski area that is gigantic and snowy and covered in modern infrastructure while simultaneously being unknown outside of its area code.Yes this is hyperbole. But while everyone in Portland knows that Meadows has the best parking lot views in America and a statistical profile that matches up with Beaver Creek and as many detachable chairlifts as Snowbasin or Snowbird and more snow than Steamboat or Jackson or Palisades or Pow Mow, most of the rest of the world doesn't, and I think they should.Why you should ski Mt. Hood Meadows and Cooper SpurIt's interesting that the 4,845 combined skiable acres of Hood's four ski areas are just a touch larger than the 4,323 acres at Mt. Bachelor, which as far as I know has operated as a single interconnected facility since its 1958 founding. Both are volcanoes whose ski areas operate on U.S. Forest Service land a commutable distance from demographically similar markets, providing a case study in distributed versus centralized management.Bachelor in many ways delivers a better experience. Bachelor's snow is almost always drier and better, an outlier in the kingdom of Cascade Concrete. Skiers can move contiguously across its full acreage, an impossible mission on Balkanized Hood. The mountain runs an efficient, mostly modern 15 lifts to Hood's wild 31, which includes a dozen detachables but also a half dozen vintage Riblet doubles with no safety bars. Bachelor's lifts scale the summit, rather than stopping thousands of feet short as they do on Hood. While neither are Colorado-grade destination ski areas, metro Portland is stuffed with 25 times more people than Bend, and Hood ski areas have an everbusy feel that skiers can often outrun at Bachelor. Bachelor is closer to its mothership – just 26 minutes from Bend to Portland's hour-to-two-hour commutes up to the ski areas. And Bachelor, accessible on all versions of the Ikon Pass and not hamstrung by the confusing counter-branding of multiple ski areas with similar names occupying the same mountain, presents a more clearcut target for the mainstream skier.But Mount Hood's quirky scatterplot ski centers reward skiers in other ways. Four distinct ski areas means four distinct ski cultures, each with its own pace, purpose, customs, traditions, and orientation to the outside world. Timberline Lodge is a funky mix of summertime Bro parks, Government Camp greens, St. Bernards, and its upscale landmark namesake hotel. Cooper Spur is tucked-away, low-key, low-vert family resort skiing. Meadows sprawls, big and steep, with Hood's most interesting terrain. And low-altitude, closest-to-the-city Skibowl is night-lit slowpoke with a vintage all-Riblet lift fleet. Your Epic and Ikon passes are no good here, though Indy gets you Meadows and Cooper Spur. Walk-up lift tickets (still the only way to buy them at Skibowl), are more tier-varied and affordable than those at Bachelor, which can exceed $200 on peak days (though Bachelor heavily discounts access to its beginner lifts, with free access to select novice areas). Bachelor's $1,299 season pass is 30 percent more expensive than Meadows'.This dynamic, of course, showcases single-entity efficiency and market capture versus the messy choice of competition. Yes Free Market Bro you are right sometimes. Hood's ski areas have more inherent motivators to fight on price, forge allegiances like the Timberline-Skibowl joint season pass, invest in risks like night and summer skiing, and run wonky low-tide lift ticket deals. Empowering this flexibility: all four Hood ski areas remain locally owned – Meadows and T-Line by their founding families. Bachelor, of course, is a fiefdom of Park City, Utah-based Powdr, which owns a half-dozen other ski areas across the West.I don't think that Hood is better than Bachelor or that Bachelor is better than Hood. They're different, and you should ski both. But however you dissect the niceties of these not-really-competing-but-close-enough-that-a-comarison-makes-sense ski centers, the on-the-ground reality adds up to this: Hood locals, in general, are a far more contented gang than Bachelor Bros. I don't have any way to quantify this, and Bachelor has its partisans. But I talk to skiers all over the country, all the time. Skiers will complain about anything, and online guttings of even the most beloved mountains exist. But talk to enough people and strong enough patterns emerge to understand that, in general, locals are happy with Mammoth and Alpine Meadows and Sierra-at-Tahoe and A-Basin and Copper and Bridger Bowl and Nub's Nob and Perfect North and Elk and Plattekill and Berkshire East and Smuggs and Loon and Saddleback and, mostly, the Hood ski areas. And locals are generally less happy with Camelback and Seven Springs and Park City and Sunrise and Shasta and Stratton and, lately, former locals' faves Sugarbush and Wildcat. And, as far as I can tell, Bachelor.Potential explanations for Hood happiness versus Bachelor blues abound, all of them partial, none completely satisfactory, all asterisked with the vagaries of skiing and skiers and weather and luck. But my sense is this: Meadows, Timberline, and Skibowl locals are generally content not because they have better skiing than everyplace else or because their ski areas are some grand bargain or because they're not crowded or because they have the best lift systems or terrain parks or grooming or snow conditions, but because Hood, in its haphazard and confounding-to-outsiders borders and layout, has forced its varied operators to hyper-adapt to niche needs in the local market while liberating them from the all-things-to-everyone imperative thrust on isolated operations like Bachelor. They have to decide what they're good at and be good at that all the time, because they have no other option. Hood operators can't be Vail-owned Paoli Peaks, turning in 25-day ski seasons and saying well it's Indiana what do you expect? They have to be independent Perfect North, striving always for triple-digit operating days and saying it's Indiana and we're doing this anyway because if we don't you'll stop coming and we'll all be broke.In this way Hood is a snapshot of old skiing, pre-consolidation, pre-national pass, pre-social media platforms that flung open global windows onto local mountains. Other than Timberline summer parks no one is asking these places to be anything other than very good local ski areas serving rabid local skiers. And they're doing a damn good job.Podcast NotesOn Meadows and Timberline Lodge opening and closing datesOne of the most baffling set of basic facts to get straight in American skiing is the number of ski areas on Mount Hood and the distinction between them. Part of the reason for this is the volcano's famous summer skiing, which takes place not at either of the eponymous ski areas – Mt. Hood Meadows or Mt. Hood Skibowl – but at the awkwardly named Timberline Lodge, which sounds more like a hipster cocktail lounge with a 19th-century fur-trapper aesthetic than the name of a ski resort (which is why no one actually calls it “Timberline Lodge”; I do so only to avoid confusion with the ski area in West Virginia, because people are constantly getting Appalachian ski areas mixed up with those in the Cascades). I couldn't find a comprehensive list of historic closing dates for Meadows and Timberline, but the basic distinction is this: Meadows tends to wrap winter sometime between late April and late May. Timberline goes into August and beyond when it can. Why doesn't Meadows push its season when it is right next door and probably could? We discuss in the pod.On Riblet clipsFun fact about defunct-as-a-company-even-though-a-couple-hundred-of-their-machines-are-still-spinning Riblet chairlifts: rather than clamping on like a vice grip, the end of each chair is woven into the rope via something called an “insert clip.” I wrote about this in my Wildcat pod last year:On Alpental Chair 2A small but vocal segment of Broseph McBros with nothing better to do always reflexively oppose the demolition of legacy fixed-grip lifts to make way for modern machines. Pack does a great job laying out why it's harder to maintain older chairlifts than many skiers may think. I wrote about this here:On Blue's breakover towers and unload rampWe also dropped photos of this into the video version of the pod:On the Cooper Spur land exchangeHere's a somewhat-dated and very biased-against-the-ski-area infographic summarizing the proposed land swap between Meadows and the U.S. Forest Service, from the Cooper Spur Wild & Free Coalition, an organization that “first came together in 2002 to fight Mt. Hood Meadows' plans to develop a sprawling destination resort on the slopes of Mt. Hood near Cooper Spur”:While I find the sanctimonious language in this timeline off-putting, I'm more sympathetic to Enviro Bro here than I was with the eruption-detection controversy discussed up top. Opposing small-footprint, high-impact catastrophe-monitoring equipment on an active volcano to save five bushes but potentially endanger millions of human lives is foolish. But checking sprawling wilderness development by identifying smaller parcels adjacent to already-disturbed lands as alternative sites for denser, hopefully walkable, hopefully mixed-use projects is exactly the sort of thing that every mountain community ought to prioritize.On the combination of Summit and Timberline LodgeThe small Summit Pass ski area in Government Camp operated as an independent entity from its 1927 founding until Timberline Lodge purchased the ski area in 2018. In 2021, the owners connected the two – at least in one direction. Skiers can move 4,540 vertical feet from the top of Timberline's Palmer chair to the base of Summit. While Palmer tends to open late in the season and Summit tends to close early, and while skiers will have to ride shuttles back up to the Timberline lifts until the resort builds a much anticipated gondola connecting the full height, this is technically America's largest lift-served vertical drop.On Meadows' reciprocalsMeadows only has three season pass reciprocal partners, but they're all aspirational spots that passholders would actually travel for: Baker, Schweitzer, and Whitefish. I ask Pack why he continues to offer these exchanges even as larger ski areas such as Brundage and Tamarack move away from them. One bit of context I neglected to include, however, is that neighboring Timberline Lodge and Mount Hood Skibowl not only offer a joint pass, but are longtime members of Powder Alliance, which is an incredible regional reciprocal pass that's free for passholders at any of these mountains:On Ski Broadmoor, ColoradoColorado Springs is less convenient to skiing than the name implies – skiers are driving a couple of hours, minimum, to access Monarch or the Summit County ski areas. So I was surprised, when I looked up Pack's original home mountain of Ski Broadmoor, to see that it sat on the city's outskirts:This was never a big ski area, with 600 vertical feet served by an “America The Beautiful Lift” that sounds as though it was named by Donald Trump:The “famous” Broadmoor Hotel built and operated the ski area, according to Colorado Ski History. They sold the hotel in 1986 to the city, which promptly sold it to Vail Associates (now Vail Resorts), in 1988. Vail closed the ski area in 1991 – the only mountain they ever surrendered on. I'll update all my charts and such to reflect this soon.On pre-high-speed KeystoneIt's kind of amazing that Keystone, which now spins seven high-speed chairlifts, didn't install its first detachable until 1990, nearly a decade after neighboring Breckenridge installed the world's first, in 1981. As with many resorts that have aggressively modernized, this means that Keystone once ran more chairlifts than it does today. When Pack started his ski career at the mountain in 1989, Keystone ran 10 frontside aerial lifts (8 doubles, 1 triple, 1 gondola) compared to just six today (2 doubles, 2 sixers, a high-speed quad, and a higher-capacity gondy).On Mountain CreekI've talked about the bananas-ness of Mountain Creek many times. I love this unhinged New Jersey bump in the same way I loved my crazy late uncle who would get wasted at the Bay City fireworks and yell at people driving Toyotas to “Buy American!” (This was the ‘80s in Michigan, dudes. I don't know what to tell you. The auto industry was falling apart and everybody was tripping, especially dudes who worked in – or, in my uncle's case, adjacent to (steel) – the auto industry.)On IntrawestOne of the reasons I did this insane timeline project was so that I would no longer have to sink 30 minutes into Google every time someone said the word “Intrawest.” The timeline was a pain in the ass, but worth it, because now whenever I think “wait exactly what did Intrawest own and when?” I can just say “oh yeah I already did that here you go”:On Moonlight Basin and merging with Big SkyIt's kind of weird how many now-united ski areas started out as separate operations: Beaver Creek and Arrowhead (merged 1997), Canyons and Park City (2014), Whistler and Blackcomb (1997), Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley (connected via gondola in 2022), Carinthia and Mount Snow (1986), Sugarbush and Mount Ellen (connected via chairlift in 1995). Sometimes – Beaver Creek, Mount Snow – the terrain and culture mergers are seamless. Other times – Alpine and the Palisades side of what is now Palisades Tahoe – the connection feels like opening a store that sells four-wheelers and 74-piece high-end dinnerware sets. Like, these things don't go together, Man. But when Big Sky absorbed Moonlight Basin and Spanish Peaks in 2013, everyone immediately forgot that it was ever any different. This suggests that Big Sky's 2032 Yellowstone Club acquisition will be seamless.**Kidding, Brah. Maybe.On Lehman BrothersNearly two decades later, it's still astonishing how quickly Lehman Brothers, in business for 158 years, collapsed in 2008.On the “mutiny” at TellurideEvery now and then, a reader will ask the very reasonable question about why I never pay any attention to Telluride, one of America's great ski resorts, and one that Pack once led. Mostly it's because management is unstable, making long-term skier experience stories of the sort I mostly focus on hard to tell. And management is mostly unstable because the resort's owner is, by all accounts, willful and boorish and sort of unhinged. Blevins, in The Colorado Sun's “Outsider” newsletter earlier this week:A few months ago, locals in Telluride and Mountain Village began publicly blasting the resort's owner, a rare revolt by a community that has grown weary of the erratic Chuck Horning.For years, residents around the resort had quietly lamented the antics and decisions of the temperamental Horning, the 81-year-old California real estate investor who acquired Telluride Ski & Golf Resort in 2004. It's the only resort Horning has ever owned and over the last 21 years, he has fired several veteran ski area executives — including, earlier this year, his son, Chad.Now, unnamed locals have launched a website, publicly detailing the resort owner's messy management of the Telluride ski area and other businesses across the country.“For years, Chuck Horning has caused harm to us all, both individually and collectively,” reads the opening paragraph of ChuckChuck.ski — which originated when a Telluride councilman in March said that it was “time to chuck Chuck.” “The community deserves something better. For years, we've whispered about the stories, the incidents, the poor decisions we've witnessed. Those stories should no longer be kept secret from everyone that relies on our ski resort for our wellbeing.”The chuckchuck.ski site drags skeletons out of Horning's closet. There are a lot of skeletons in there. The website details a long history of lawsuits across the country accusing Horning and the Newport Federal Financial investment firm he founded in 1970 of fraud.It's a pretty amazing site.On Bogus BasinI was surprised that ostensibly for-profit Meadows regularly re-invests 100 percent of profits into the ski area. Such a model is more typical for explicitly nonprofit outfits such as Bogus Basin, Idaho. Longtime GM Brad Wilson outlined how that ski area functions a few years back:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Wondering how to navigate the country, where to stay, or what sights are truly worth visiting on your trip to Switzerland? If you're dreaming of waterfalls, mountain views, and stress-free adventures, this is for you. In this episode, we explore the charming Swiss mountain village of Wengen, located in the heart of the Jungfrau Region. This car-free destination is easy to reach via the scenic train to Wengen from Lauterbrunnen, one of the most underrated scenic train rides in the country. From amazing views of Staubbach Falls to breathtaking hikes at Männlichen, you'll learn exactly why Wengen is a must-add to your itinerary.We also dive into essential Switzerland travel tips for using the Swiss Travel Pass and making the most of Swiss public transport, especially for those looking to travel Switzerland by train. If you're considering excursions to Jungfraujoch (aka the Top of Europe) or want to explore the region's famous Männlichen cable car, you'll hear practical advice that'll save you time and effort.Plus, we'll explore what makes Wengen a special year-round destination, from its accessible hikes and winter sports to its charming village traditions like folklore nights with yodeling and dancing, all part of the rich local character that makes Swiss culture so memorable.Whether you're planning your holidays to Switzerland or are just gathering ideas for your dream itinerary, this is your one-stop episode for smart, scenic, and simple Switzerland trip planning!Safe travels,Carolyn

In this episode of The MHP Broker's  Tips and Tricks podcast, Maxwell Baker, president of The Mobile Home Park Broker, interviewed The MHP Broker Jeff Dodge who teamed up with Max to close a park in the Charlotte, North Carolin metro. As with every Tips and Tricks podcast episode, this one is brought to you by The MHP Broker's proprietary Community Price Maximizer. Use this four-step system to get the highest price possible for your mobile home park or RV community when you sell it through The MHP Broker. Guaranteed. Call Max for details. Here Are the Show Highlights: Jeff and Max worked together on te Mountain Village Mobile Home Park deal in Gastonia, NC. It came amidst a real hot streak for MHP Broker. The company was incredibly busy the first part of 2025, especially compared to two years ago, before the presidential election. (Max, 1:10) It was a nice park in a good location, the Charlotte metro. Mountain Vilage had 46 lots and 40 tenant-owned homes, three vacant park-owned homes, two vacant lots and one rent-to-own home. The park had a high occupancy rate and strong demand. By the fact that most of the homes were tenant-owned, the maintenance costs and responsibilities were low and Mountain Village was mostly a turnkey operation. (Jeff, 3:24) The response to the deal was so great that Jeff received multiple offers and they ended up selling it for MORE than the asking price. (Jeff, 4:09) It didn't go for just a little bit above the asking price either. It was more like a couple hundred thousand dollars over. (Max, 4:21) Jeff and Max were able to quickly get Mountain Village under contract with an experienced buyer. (Jeff, 4:26) The sale came in with a CAP rate in the upper sixes, which is virtually unheard of for a park with fewer than 50 lots. Great for the seller. The rate indicates that the buyer might have overpaid for the park.  (Max, 4:38) The worst thing you can do as an investor is to just let your money sit there. So investors will sometimes spend it quickly oon what they consider to be a smart investment, even if they're overpaying at that moment in time. Charlotte is a good housing market and the buyer obviously felt it was advantageous to buy the property at whatever he had to spend. (Max, 5:24) As great as the sale was, it didn't go off without a hitch. The seller had two park-owned homes that weren't occupied. He'd agreed to sell them before the park sale or give them up for nothing if he didn't have them sold in time. But he evidently forgot that term pf the deal until the sale was about to go through and the buyer got ready to take possession of the two homes for free. When reminded of the terms of the deal, the seller refused to give up the homes for nothing. That drama at the end nearly killed the sale. (Jeff, 6:49) Jeff saved the sale by getting the buyer and seller to agree to a compromise by which the seller would keep the homes in the park until they were sold and pay lot rent on them in the meantime. The new buyer had aggressively raised lot rents and the seller agreed to pay the higher rate. Both buyer and seller were happy with the negotiation and the park sale closed. (Jeff, 8:12) Whether you have a big park or a small one, you can trust MHP Broker to get through whatever issues might occur and get the park sold. (Jeff, 11:08) The MHP Broker has sold parks of all sizes and complexity. Even if you're just thinking of selling it at some point in the future, we can evaluate your property and calculate its market value. Call Jeff Dodge or Max Baker at The MHP Broker, (678) 932-0200 or drop us a line at info@themhpbroker.com. Power Quotes in This Episode: “Everybody says the market's down, but here at our brokerage yeah, I don't know, we're just killing it, man. Like, we've had more contracts fly across the desk at the beginning of 2025 than we've ever had as a company as a whole. (Max, 1:10) “I mean, it was unreal the response we got. Received multiple offers and then went to work with competing offers and got it sold actually over ask price. The seller was very happy with that.” (Jeff, 4:09) “It was a couple hundred grand over ask price with multiple offers that were competing.” (Jeff, 4:26) The worst thing you can do is have a (investment) fund just sitting there. (Explaining why an investor might overpay on a good deal vs. doing nothing with their money.)” (Max, 5:24)

-Mountain Village jura su nuevo Ayuntamiento -Radio Esperanza -Los bomberos luchan contra un incendio forestal en la zona oeste

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Love Blossoms at the Mountain Village Market Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2025-07-13-22-34-02-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 山村集市在山间的晨光中焕发出勃勃生机。En: The mountain village market burst with vibrant life in the morning light of the mountains.Zh: 彩色的帐篷如花朵般盛开，空气中弥漫着香草和新鲜蔬菜的芬芳。En: Colorful tents bloomed like flowers, and the air was filled with the fragrance of herbs and fresh vegetables.Zh: 人们穿梭其间，为即将到来的七夕节添置各种食材。En: People shuttled back and forth, adding various ingredients for the upcoming Qixi Festival.Zh: 梅是一位年轻的姑娘，对烹饪充满热情。En: Mei was a young woman with a passion for cooking.Zh: 她计划为心仪的人准备一顿特别的晚餐，以此表达自己的心意。En: She planned to prepare a special dinner for someone she admired, as a way to express her feelings.Zh: 然而，节日将至，集市比平常更热闹，想要购买的食材在迅速售罄。En: However, with the festival approaching, the market was busier than usual, and the ingredients she wanted were quickly selling out.Zh: “我要找到最好的材料，”梅对自己说道。En: "I need to find the best materials," Mei said to herself.Zh: “只有用最好的食材，才能做出我想要的那道菜！En: "Only with the best ingredients can I make the dish I want!"Zh: ”她走过一个个摊位，与摊主们讨价还价，努力收集所需的蔬菜和香草。En: She walked past one stall after another, haggling with vendors, diligently collecting the needed vegetables and herbs.Zh: 梁是一位友好的摊贩，对梅一直心怀倾慕。En: Liang was a friendly vendor who had always admired Mei.Zh: 他见梅走近自己的摊位，微微一笑。En: Seeing her approach his stall, he gave a slight smile.Zh: “梅，今天需要些什么？En: "Mei, what do you need today?"Zh: ”梁问道，他的摊位上摆满了新鲜的香草。En: Liang asked, his stall filled with fresh herbs.Zh: “你好，梁，”梅热情地回应。En: "Hello, Liang," Mei responded warmly.Zh: “我在找一些香菜、薄荷，还有一些辣椒。En: "I'm looking for cilantro, mint, and some chili peppers.Zh: 可是好像人太多了，我还缺最后几样。En: But it seems too crowded today, and I'm still missing a few items."Zh: ”梁明白梅的困难，也知晓她为谁准备这顿晚餐。En: Liang understood Mei's difficulty and also knew for whom she was preparing this dinner.Zh: 他在心中犹豫，要不要趁机表达自己的心意。En: He hesitated in his heart, wondering whether to take the opportunity to express his feelings.Zh: 然而，他决定先帮助梅。En: However, he decided to help Mei first.Zh: “这些都是我为你留的，”梁说，悄悄从摊位后拿出一小篮新鲜香草。En: "I've kept these just for you," Liang said, quietly taking out a small basket of fresh herbs from behind the stall.Zh: 梅惊讶且感激地看着梁。En: Mei looked at Liang in surprise and gratitude.Zh: “谢谢你，梁！En: "Thank you, Liang!Zh: 这些就是我需要的！En: This is exactly what I needed!"Zh: ”她说，心中一阵温暖。En: she said, feeling a wave of warmth in her heart.Zh: 日落时分，梅邀请梁来她家共进晚餐。En: At sunset, Mei invited Liang to her home for dinner.Zh: 灯火柔和，空气中飘着诱人的香气。En: The lights were soft, and the air was filled with a tempting aroma.Zh: 梅端上她的佳肴，微笑着对梁说：“谢谢你的帮助。En: Mei served her dishes and smiled at Liang, saying, "Thank you for your help.Zh: 因为有了你，我才能做出这顿晚餐。En: Because of you, I was able to make this dinner."Zh: ”吃着梅亲手做的饭菜，梁终于鼓起勇气，说出了心里话。En: While eating the meal Mei had personally prepared, Liang finally mustered the courage to speak his heart.Zh: “梅，我其实一直很欣赏你，也很喜欢这些因为你而变得特别的日子。En: "Mei, I've always appreciated you and really cherish these days made special by you."Zh: ”梅脸上露出幸福的微笑。En: Mei's face lit up with a happy smile.Zh: “我也是呢，一直想告诉你，那些日子里我也很开心。En: "I do too, I've always wanted to tell you, those days were very joyful for me as well."Zh: ”那天晚上，他们在共同分享的餐桌旁，敞开心扉，终于明白彼此心意。En: That night, around a shared table, they opened their hearts and finally understood each other's feelings.Zh: 不知不觉中，他们的世界因为一个下午的集市而改变。En: Unknowingly, their world was changed by an afternoon at the market.Zh: 山村集市的繁忙已经远去，夜空中挂满星星，与温柔的月光一道，见证了一个新的开始。En: The hustle and bustle of the mountain village market had faded away, and the starry night sky, along with the gentle moonlight, witnessed a new beginning. Vocabulary Words:vibrant: 勃勃生机bloomed: 盛开fragrance: 芬芳shuttled: 穿梭forth: 其间upcoming: 即将到来的admired: 心仪haggling: 讨价还价vendors: 摊贩diligently: 努力chili peppers: 辣椒crowded: 热闹hesitated: 犹豫gratitude: 感激temper: 柔和aroma: 香气mustered: 鼓起cherish: 珍惜appreciate: 欣赏shared: 共同bustle: 繁忙faded: 远去starry: 星星gentle: 温柔witnessed: 见证express: 表达feelings: 心意materials: 材料personally: 亲手surprise: 惊讶

AP correspondent Ben Thomas reports flash flooding has hit a mountain village in New Mexico. ((opens with actuality))

AP correspondent Julie Walker reports 3 people are dead as flash flooding hits New Mexico.

-La temporada de incendios se calienta -Primer poeta bilingüe -Mountain Village difiere la votación del impuesto sobre las tarifas de las sillas de esquí

Three of the seven seats on Mountain Village Town Council are up for election this June. Three of the seven candidates running join for a discussion on the issues facing the community and region. Guests include: Michael Kirn, Jonathan Greenspan, and Heather Knox. To hear from Alline Arguelles, Bradford Hewitt, Harvey Mogenson, and Huascar (Rick) Gomez, who are also running for council, tune in to "Off the Record" from June 10, 2025.

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Three of the seven seats on Mountain Village Town Council are up for election this June. Four of the seven candidates running join for a discussion on the issues facing the community and region. Guests include: Alline Arguelles, Bradford Hewitt, Harvey Mogenson, and Huascar (Rick) Gomez. To hear from Michael Kirn, Jonathan Greenspan, and Heather Knox, who are also running for council, tune in to "Off the Record" on June 17, 2025.

Mountain Village considers rescheduling ballot question about lift tax to November, Colorado passes legislation to regulate the sale of kratom, Gov. Polis signs bill to provide paid leave for parents with babies in NICU, and phone scammers using Sheriff Dan Covault's name.

Colorado legislators pass SB25-276 to protect immigrants, two ballot initiatives this fall will ask the state's voters about additional funding for school meals, the unofficial results from the Telluride Hospital District election are in, and trash truck catches fire near Mountain Village.

-El Ayuntamiento de Telluride expresa su preocupación por el liderazgo de Telski -Radio Esperanza -Casillero Dew en Mountain Village

Telluride Ski Resort owner Chuck Horning comes under fire from local officials, lawsuit over gondola ballot issue 3A is headed to trial, San Miguel County Public Health receives stop work order as federal funding is cut, Mountain Village receives grant funding for wildfire mitigation, and a big snowstorm caps off the 2024-2025 season.

-Mountain Village y Telski se enfrentan -Cinco años de COVID-19 -Hurd presenta la Ley de Tierras Públicas Productivas

Today, Sun outdoors reporter Jason Blevins breaks down the simmer frustrations with the Telluride ski area owner and his pushback against the Town of Mountain Village, which may use eminent domain for some of his land.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

- Mountain Village and Telski Go To Battle - Mining Sees More Regulation in San Miguel County - Public Health Encourages Measles Vaccination

- Wildfire risks in the modern world - Mountain Village moves to increase Town Council compensation - Cat Movie Fisher with Risho Unda

George grew up in Mountain Village, Alaska where life can be pretty rugged. One day, while he was out on his snow machine he got caught in a storm. He got lost and, eventually, his snowmobile ran out of gas. This could be a deadly situation. Should he abandon his snow machine or stay put?

-New District Attorney sifts through problems -Mountain Village considers Town Council compensation -West End reimagines Dolores River conservation

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Finding Home: Love and Tradition in a Mountain Village Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2025-01-11-08-38-19-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 村子四面环山，冬天的冷风总是从山上吹来，带来一片清冷。En: The village is surrounded by mountains, and in winter, the cold wind always blows down from the mountains, bringing a chill.Zh: 红灯笼高高挂起，把整个村子装点得喜气洋洋，准备迎接即将到来的春节。En: Red lanterns are hung high, decorating the entire village with a festive atmosphere as they prepare to welcome the upcoming Spring Festival.Zh: 这里的人们正忙着布置村里的广场，准备一场盛大的春节庆典。En: The people here are busy arranging the village square in preparation for a grand Spring Festival celebration.Zh: 玲是一个安静思考的年轻人。En: Ling is a quiet and thoughtful young person.Zh: 他刚从城市学习回来，心里渴望一个可以属于他的地方。En: Having just returned from studying in the city, he longs for a place he can belong to.Zh: 但在这山村，他总觉得像个局外人。En: Yet, in this mountain village, he always feels like an outsider.Zh: 梅，是一位热情的女子，她深爱着村子的传统，想通过这次节日将她已逝祖母的遗产发扬光大。En: Mei is a passionate woman who deeply loves the village's traditions and wants to honor her late grandmother's legacy through this festival.Zh: 这一天，玲走过村子，看见梅在广场忙碌。En: One day, Ling walked through the village and saw Mei busy in the square.Zh: 梅正在和村人协调装饰，非常忙碌。En: Mei was coordinating decorations with the villagers and was very busy.Zh: 见玲站在不远处，她脸上露出微笑：“玲，你回来得正好，可以帮忙吗？”En: Seeing Ling standing not far away, she smiled and said, "Ling, you're back just in time. Can you help us?"Zh: 玲犹豫一会儿，点了点头。En: Ling hesitated for a moment and then nodded.Zh: 他开始帮忙挂灯笼，尽管一开始并不熟练，但他努力去尽力而为。En: He began helping to hang lanterns.Zh: 尽管一开始并不熟练，但他努力去尽力而为。En: Although he wasn't very skilled at first, he tried his best.Zh: 村里的朋友建一直在观察着这一切。En: Their mutual friend, Jian, was observing everything.Zh: 建是他们俩个的好友，常在他们之间调和空气。En: Jian was a friend of both and often helped to balance the air between them.Zh: 他知道玲的内心，也了解梅的期望。En: He understood Ling's inner world and knew Mei's aspirations.Zh: 日子一天天过去，梅渐渐感到压力，庆典的筹备让她疲惫不堪。En: As days passed, Mei began to feel the pressure, becoming exhausted from the festival preparations.Zh: 建看出了她的烦恼，提议把一部分任务交给其他村人，梅终于同意了。En: Jian noticed her distress and suggested delegating some tasks to other villagers, and Mei finally agreed.Zh: 这样一来，她能有更多时间与玲接触。En: This way, she could have more time to spend with Ling.Zh: 除夕夜，村子沉浸在灯光与烟火之中。En: On New Year's Eve, the village was immersed in lights and fireworks.Zh: 玲和梅一起坐在挂满红灯笼的树下。En: Ling and Mei sat together under a tree adorned with red lanterns.Zh: 周围是喜庆的欢笑声和炮竹的轰鸣。En: Surrounding them were the joyous sounds of laughter and the booming of firecrackers.Zh: 梅轻声说：“谢谢你，玲。你的帮助让我感觉轻松很多。”En: Mei said softly, "Thank you, Ling. Your help has made things much easier for me."Zh: 玲终于开口，分享了他内心深处的感受：“刚回来时，我觉得自己像个外人。现在，我觉得这里有了我的一部分，也是因为你。”En: Ling finally spoke, sharing his deepest feelings: "When I first came back, I felt like an outsider. Now, I feel like a part of this place, thanks to you."Zh: 梅笑了，心中温暖。En: Mei smiled, warmth filling her heart.Zh: 她轻声说道：“你在这里是我的伙伴，不仅是为了这个节日，更是因为我们都爱这个村子。”En: She softly said, "You're my partner here, not only for this festival but because we both love this village."Zh: 当夜色渐深，烟花在天空中绽放，光芒把他们的脸庞映得清晰。En: As the night deepened, fireworks blossomed in the sky, illuminating their faces.Zh: 他们的心也在这一刻贴近，不再有所保留。En: Their hearts drew close at this moment, leaving nothing unsaid.Zh: 春节庆典圆满结束，梅成功地继承了祖母的遗愿，村里的每个人都感受到了浓烈的节日气氛。En: The Spring Festival celebration ended successfully, and Mei fulfilled her grandmother's wish.Zh: 村里的每个人都感受到了浓烈的节日气氛。En: Everyone in the village felt the intense festive spirit.Zh: 而玲终于找到家一样的感觉，在这个小山村中，他找到属于自己的位置。En: And Ling finally found a sense of belonging, finding his place in this small mountain village. Vocabulary Words:surrounded: 环山chill: 清冷festive: 喜气洋洋atmosphere: 气氛arranging: 布置grand: 盛大的celebration: 庆典thoughtful: 思考belong: 属于outsider: 局外人passionate: 热情legacy: 遗产coordinating: 协调observing: 观察balance: 调和aspirations: 期望exhausted: 疲惫distress: 烦恼delegating: 交给immersed: 沉浸adorned: 挂满laughter: 欢笑firecrackers: 炮竹illuminating: 映得fulfill: 继承intense: 浓烈belonging: 位置deepened: 渐深blossomed: 绽放unspoken: 不再有所保留

- Mechanical failure forces ski lift evacuation - Telluride welcomes new director of historic preservation - Menorah lighting illuminates Mountain Village

- Bluegrass announces initial 2025 lineup - Mountain Village tentatively expands housing assistance program - Public land conflicts in western San Miguel County

-Mountain Village fija los precios de los alquileres de VCA para 2025 -Montrose se conecta a SMART -Norwood finaliza su presupuesto para 2025

- Placerville community speaks up - Mountain Village debriefs on Meadowlark and VCA housing -Celebrating 10 years of The Downlow

- Norwood Trustees finalize 2025 budget - Mountain Village addresses Ilium housing questions - Telluride moves to ban puppy mills

- Mountain Village sets VCA rents for 2025 - Norwood Water Commission finds funding - Radio Book Club has the next chapter

-Mountain Village considera una estructura de alquiler por niveles para VCA -Vuelve el estacionamiento pagado a Mountain Village -Nuevos deportes en Telluride High School

- Mountain Village considers “Commercial Vacancy Tax” - Healthy Kids Colorado Survey provides insight into Telluride's young community - Holidays at the Telluride Post Office

- Mountain Village considers tiered rent structure for VCA - Amidst fire, community in Nucla burns bright - Telluride's tofu turkey the first of its kind

-Mountain Village habla sobre la estructura de alquiler en VCA -Telluride Fundación quiere apoyar a los compradores de vivienda por primera vez -Celebration del día de los muertos

- Mountain Village talks rent structure at VCA - Strong Start looks to fill the gaps on early child education - Radio Book Club has the next chapter

- El condado apoya a las organizaciones sin fines de lucro de la zona en 2025 - Mountain Village trabaja en la prevención de incendios - Un jardín comunitario florece con motivo del Mes de Concienciación sobre la Violencia Doméstica

- County discusses rural land use - Mountain Village works on fire mitigation - Extension director retires

- The West End plans for the future - Mountain Village denies 5G proposal - A community garden blooms for Domestic Violence Awareness Month

-Las fuerzas del orden responden a un informe de posible arma de fuego en el High School de Telluride -Norwood votará sobre 2 importantes iniciativas electorales este otoño -Mountain Village aprueba las tarifas de estacionamiento de invierno

- Telluride discusses sending two housing units to lottery - Mountain Village talks water infrastructure replacements - Walk for Hope looks for light in the darkness

- Discussions on Norwood Fire Protection District mill levy heat up - Mountain Village approves winter parking rates - 2024 Pinterns to present

- Mountain Village talks 2025 budget - Homeowners and communities prepare for wildfire - GMUG finalizes Blue Lakes Management Plan

- Towns pledge collaboration on wastewater - Mountain Village shakes of cedar shingles - Trio Duende brings long form music

- El alcalde de Norwood se enfrenta a la destitución - La comunidad comparte su preocupación por la política de alquiler de viviendas - Mountain Village muestra su apoyo a un lugar para jóvenes

- Telluride on track with 2024 goals - Mountain Village considers Youth Hangout funding - Love and loss with “Love Letters to Vincent”

- Mountain Village sends question on voting eligibility to the ballot - SMART discusses expanded service - Club works on trails: short and long term

New Exodus Update! Tribe to Survive What is Coming. Time is Short. Mountain Village Time!On Sale Now - CarbonShield60 Oil Infusions 15% OFFGo to >> https://www.redpillliving.com/NEMOSCoupon Code: NEMOS(Coupon code good for one time use)Sleepy Joe Sleep Aidhttps://redpillliving.com/sleepIf you wish to support our work by donating - Bitcoin Accepted.✅ https://NemosNewsNetwork.com/Donate———————————————————————FALL ASLEEP FAST - Stay Asleep Longer... Without Negative Side Effects.✅ https://redpillliving.com/sleep———————————————————————For breaking news from one of the most over the target and censored names in the world join our 100% Free newsletter at www.NemosNewsNetwork.com/news———————————————————————Follow on Truth Socialhttps://truthsocial.com/@REALDUSTINNEMOSAlso follow us at Gabhttps://gab.com/nemosnewsnetworkJoin our Telegram chat: https://NemosNewsNetwork.com/chat———————————————————————

-Los votantes de Mountain Village decidirán si permiten votar a las compañías -Dan Enright permanecerá en la Autoridad de Vivienda después de la queja ética -Youth Hangout se prepara para la inauguración en Telluride

- County appeals latest ruling on Diamond Ridge - New app aims to add equity to emergency alerts - Mountain Village finds sustainability inspiration abroad

- Mountain Village voters to decide on allowing LLCs to vote - Scott Robson says goodbye - G is for Government previews Telluride Town Council

-Tras un largo y emotivo proceso, el Condado aprueba el Plan de East End -Telluride habla de niveles -Mountain Village organiza una sesión de trabajo para debatir la elegibilidad para votar

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on June 10. It dropped for free subscribers on June 17. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoBelinda Trembath, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Whistler Blackcomb, British ColumbiaRecorded onJune 3, 2024About Whistler BlackcombClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Vail Resorts (majority owners; Nippon Cable owns a 25 percent stake in Whistler Blackcomb)Located in: Whistler, British ColumbiaYear founded: 1966Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass: unlimited* Epic Local Pass: 10 holiday-restricted days, shared with Vail Mountain and Beaver CreekClosest neighboring ski areas: Grouse Mountain (1:26), Cypress (1:30), Mt. Seymour (1:50) – travel times vary based upon weather conditions, time of day, and time of yearBase elevation: 2,214 feet (675 meters)Summit elevation: 7,497 feet (2,284 meters)Vertical drop: 5,283 feet (1,609 meters)Skiable Acres: 8,171Average annual snowfall: 408 inches (1,036 centimeters)Trail count: 276 (20% easiest, 50% more difficult, 30% most difficult)Lift count: A lot (1 28-passenger gondola, 3 10-passenger gondolas, 1 8-passenger gondola, 1 8-passenger pulse gondola, 8 high-speed quads, 4 six-packs, 1 eight-pack, 3 triples, 2 T-bars, 7 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Whistler Blackcomb's lift fleet) – inventory includes upgrade of Jersey Cream Express from a quad to a six-pack for the 2024-25 ski season.Why I interviewed herHistorical records claim that when Lewis and Clark voyaged west in 1804, they were seeking “the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.” But they were actually looking for Whistler Blackcomb.Or at least I think they were. What other reason is there to go west but to seek out these fabulous mountains, rising side by side and a mile* into the sky, where Pacific blow-off splinters into summit blizzards and packed humanity animates the village below?There is nothing else like Whistler in North America. It is our most complete, and our greatest, ski resort. Where else does one encounter this collision of terrain, vertical, panorama, variety, and walkable life, interconnected with audacious aerial lifts and charged by a pilgrim-like massing of skiers from every piece and part of the world? Europe and nowhere else. Except for here.Other North American ski resorts offer some of these things, and some of them offer better versions of them than Whistler. But none of them has all of them, and those that have versions of each fail to combine them all so fluidly. There is no better snow than Alta-Snowbird snow, but there is no substantive walkable village. There is no better lift than Jackson's tram, but the inbounds terrain lacks scale and the town is miles away. There is no better energy than Palisades Tahoe energy, but the Pony Express is still carrying news of its existence out of California.Once you've skied Whistler – or, more precisely, absorbed it and been absorbed by it – every other ski area becomes Not Whistler. The place lingers. You carry it around. Place it into every ski conversation. “Have you been to Whistler?” If not, you try to describe it. But it can't be done. “Just go,” you say, and that's as close as most of us can come to grabbing the raw power of the place.*Or 1.6 Canadian Miles (sometimes referred to as “kilometers”).What we talked aboutWhy skier visits dropped at Whistler-Blackcomb this past winter; the new Fitzsimmons eight-passenger express and what it took to modify a lift that had originally been intended for Park City; why skiers can often walk onto that lift with little to no wait; this summer's Jersey Cream lift upgrade; why Jersey Cream didn't require as many modifications as Fitzsimmons even though it was also meant for Park City; the complexity of installing a mid-mountain lift; why WB had to cancel 2024 summer skiing and what that means for future summer seasons; could we see a gondola serving the glacier instead?; Vail's Australian trio of Mt. Hotham, Perisher, and Falls Creek; Whistler's wild weather; the distinct identities of Blackcomb and Whistler; what WB means to Vail Resorts; WB's Olympic legacy; Whistler's surprisingly low base elevation and what that means for the visitor; WB's relationship with local First Nations; priorities for future lift upgrades and potential changes to the Whistler gondola, Seventh Heaven, Whistler T-bar, Franz's, Garbanzo; discussing proposed additional lifts in Symphony Bowl and elsewhere on Whistler; potential expansion into a fourth portal; potential new or upgraded lifts sketched out in Blackcomb Mountain's masterplan; why WB de-commissioned the Hortsman T-Bar; missing the Wizard-to-Solar-Coaster access that the Blackcomb Gondola replaced; WB's amazing self-managing lift mazes; My Epic App direct-to-lift access is coming to Whistler; employee housing; why Whistler's season pass costs more than an Epic Pass; and Edge cards.   Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewFour new major lifts in three years; the cancellation of summer skiing; “materially lower” skier visits at Whistler this past winter, as reported by Vail Resorts – all good topics, all enough to justify a check-in. Oh and the fact that Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski area in the Western Hemisphere, the crown jewel in Vail's sprawling portfolio, the single most important ski area on the continent.And why is that? What makes this place so special? The answer lies only partly in its bigness. Whistler is vast. Whistler is thrilling. Whistler is everything you hope a ski area will be when you plan your winter vacation. But most important of all is that Whistler is proof.Proof that such a place can exist in North America. U.S. America is stuck in a development cycle that typically goes like this:* Ski area proposes a new expansion/base area development/chairlift/snowmaking upgrade.* A small group of locals picks up the pitchforks because Think of the Raccoons/this will gut the character of our bucolic community of car-dependent sprawl/this will disrupt one very specific thing that is part of my personal routine that heavens me I just can't give up.* Said group files a lawsuit/formal objection/some other bureaucratic obstacle, halting the project.* Resort justifies the project/adapts it to meet locals' concerns/makes additional concessions in the form of land swaps, operational adjustments, infrastructure placement, and the like.* Group insists upon maximalist stance of Do Nothing.* Resort makes additional adjustments.* Group is Still Mad* Cycle repeats for years* Either nothing ever gets done, or the project is built 10 to 15 years after its reveal and at considerable extra expense in the form of studies, legal fees, rising materials and labor costs, and expensive and elaborate modifications to accommodate one very specific thing, like you can't operate the lift from May 1 to April 20 because that would disrupt the seahorse migration between the North and South Poles.In BC, they do things differently. I've covered this extensively, in podcast conversations with the leaders of Sun Peaks, Red Mountain, and Panorama. The civic and bureaucratic structures are designed to promote and encourage targeted, smart development, leading to ever-expanding ski areas, human-scaled and walkable base area infrastructure, and plenty of slopeside or slope-adjacent accommodations.I won't exhaust that narrative again here. I bring it up only to say this: Whistler has done all of these things at a baffling scale. A large, vibrant, car-free pedestrian village where people live and work. A gargantuan lift across an unbridgeable valley. Constant infrastructure upgrades. Reliable mass transit. These things can be done. Whistler is proof.That BC sits directly atop Washington State, where ski areas have to spend 15 years proving that installing a stop sign won't undermine the 17-year cicada hatching cycle, is instructive. Whistler couldn't exist 80 miles south. Maybe the ski area, but never the village. And why not? Such communities, so concentrated, require a small footprint in comparison to the sprawl of a typical development of single-family homes. Whistler's pedestrian base village occupies an area around a half mile long and less than a quarter mile wide. And yet, because it is a walkable, mixed-use space, it cuts down reliance on driving, enlivens the ski area, and energizes the soul. It is proof that human-built spaces, properly conceived, can create something worthwhile in what, 50 years ago, was raw wilderness, even if they replace a small part of the natural world.A note from Whistler on First NationsTrembath and I discuss Whistler's relationship with First Nations extensively, but her team sent me some follow-up information to clarify their role in the mountain's development:Belinda didn't really have time to dive into a very important piece of the First Nations involvement in the operational side of things:* There was significant engagement with First Nations as a part of developing the masterplans.* Their involvement and support were critical to the approval of the masterplans and to ensuring that all parties and their respective communities will benefit from the next 60 years of operation.* This includes the economic prosperity of First Nations – both the Squamish and Líl̓wat Nations will participate in operational success as partners.* To ensure this, the Province of British Columbia, the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb and the Squamish and Líl̓wat Nations are engaged in agreements on how to work together in the future.* These agreements, known as the Umbrella Agreement, run concurrently with the Master Development Agreements and masterplans, providing a road map for our relationship with First Nations over the next 60 years of operations and development. * Key requirements include Revenue Sharing, Real Estate Development, Employment, Contracting & Recreational Opportunities, Marketing and Tourism and Employee Housing. There is an Implementation Committee, which oversees the execution of the agreement. * This is a landmark agreement and the only one of its kind within the mountain resort industry.What we got wrongI mentioned that “I'd never seen anything like” the lift mazes at Whistler, but that's not quite accurate. Vail Resorts deploys similar setups throughout its western portfolio. What I hadn't seen before is such choreographed and consistent navigation of these mazes by the skiers themselves. To watch a 500-person liftline squeeze itself into one loading ramp with no personnel direction or signage, and to watch nearly every chair lift off fully loaded, is to believe, at least for seven to nine minutes, in humanity as a worthwhile ongoing experiment.I said that Edge Cards were available for up to six days of skiing. They're actually available in two-, five-, or 10-day versions. If you're not familiar with Edge cards, it's because they're only available to residents of Canada and Washington State.Whistler officials clarified the mountain's spring skiing dates, which Trembath said started on May 14. The actual dates were April 15 to May 20.Why you should ski Whistler BlackcombYou know that thing you do where you step outside and you can breathe as though you didn't just remove your space helmet on the surface of Mars? You can do that at Whistler too. The village base elevation is 2,214 feet. For comparison's sake: Salt Lake City's airport sits at 4,227 feet; Denver's is at 5,434. It only goes up from there. The first chairlifts sit at 6,800 feet in Park City; 8,100 at Snowbird; 8,120 at Vail; 8,530 at Alta; 8,750 at Brighton; 9,000 at Winter Park; 9,280 at Keystone; 9,600 at Breckenridge; 9,712 at Copper Mountain; and an incredible 10,780 feet at Arapahoe Basin. Taos sits at 9,200 feet. Telluride at 8,750. Adaptation can be brutal when parachuting in from sea level, or some nominal inland elevation above it, as most of us do. At 8,500 feet, I get winded searching my hotel room for a power outlet, let alone skiing, until my body adjusts to the thinner air. That Whistler requires no such reconfiguration of your atomic structure to do things like blink and speak is one of the more underrated features of the place.Another underrated feature: Whistler Blackcomb is a fantastic family mountain. While Whistler is a flip-doodle factory of Stoke Brahs every bit the equal of Snowbird or Jackson Hole, it is not Snowbird or Jackson Hole. Which is to say, the place offers beginner runs that are more than across-the-fall line cat tracks and 300-vertical-foot beginner pods. While it's not promoted like the celebrated Peak-to-Creek route, a green trail (or sequence of them), runs nearly 5,000 uninterrupted vertical feet from Whistler's summit to the base village. In fact, with the exception of Blackcomb's Glacier Express, every one of the ski area's 16 chairlifts (even the fearsome Peak Express), and five gondolas offers a beginner route that you can ski all the way back to the base. Yes, some of them shuffle into narrow cat tracks for stretches, but mostly these are wide, approachable trails, endless and effortless, built, it seems, for ski-family safaris of the confidence-building sort.Those are maybe the things you're not thinking of. The skiing:Most skiers start with one of the three out-of-base village gondolas, but the new Fitz eight-seater rarely has a line. Start there:That's mostly a transit lift. At the top, head up the Garbanzo quad, where you can start to understand the scale of the thing:You're still not quite to the goods. But to get a sense of the mountain, ski down to Big Red:This will take you to Whistler's main upper-mountain portal, Roundhouse. From Whistler, you can see Blackcomb strafing the sky:From Roundhouse, it's a short ski down to the Peak Express:Depending upon your route down, you may end up back at Big Red. Ride back up to Roundhouse, then meander from Emerald to Harmony to Symphony lifts. For a moment on the way down Symphony, it feels like Euroski:Just about everyone sticks to the narrow groomers:But there are plenty of bumps and trees and wide-open bowls:Nice as this terrain is, the Peak 2 Peak Gondola summons you from all over the mountain:Whoosh. To Blackcomb in an instant, crossing the valley, 1,427 feet to the bottom, and out at Blackcomb's upper-mountain base, Rendezvous. Down to Glacier Express, and up a rolling fantasyland of infinite freeride terrain:And at the top it's like damn.From here, you can transfer to the Showcase T-bar if it's open. If not, climb Spanky's Ladder, and, Kaboom out on the other side:Ride Crystal Ridge or Excelerator back up, and run a lap through bowls and glades:Then ski back down to the village, ride Jersey Cream back to Rendezvous to connect to the spectacular 7th Heaven lift, or ride the gondy back over to Whistler to repeat the whole cycle. And that's just a sampling. I'm no Whistler expert - just go have fun and get lost in the whole thing.Podcast NotesOn the Lost Lifts of Park CityIt's slightly weird and enormously hilarious that the Fitzsimmons eight-seater that Whistler installed last summer and the Jersey Cream sixer that Blackcomb will drop on the mountain this year were originally intended for Park City. As I wrote in 2022:Last September, Vail Resorts announced what was likely the largest set of single-season lift upgrades in the history of the world: $315-plus million on 19 lifts (later increased to 21 lifts) across 14 ski areas. Two of those lifts would land in Park City: a D-line eight-pack would replace the Silverlode six, and a six-pack would replace the Eagle and Eaglet triples. Two more lifts in a town with 62 of them (Park City sits right next door to Deer Valley). Surely this would be another routine project for the world's largest ski area operator.It wasn't. In June, four local residents – Clive Bush, Angela Moschetta, Deborah Rentfrow, and Mark Stemler – successfully appealed the Park City Planning Commission's previous approval of the lift projects.“The upgrades were appealed on the basis that the proposed eight-place and six-place chairs were not consistent with the 1998 development agreement that governs the resort,” SAM wrote at the time. “The planning commission also cited the need for a more thorough review of the resort's comfortable carrying capacity calculations and parking mitigation plan, finding PCM's proposed paid parking plan at the Mountain Village insufficient.”So instead of rising on the mountain, the lifts spent the summer, in pieces, in the parking lot. Vail admitted defeat, at least temporarily. “We are considering our options and next steps based on today's disappointing decision—but one thing is clear—we will not be able to move forward with these two lift upgrades for the 22-23 winter season,” Park City Mountain Resort Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Deirdra Walsh said in response to the decision.One of the options Vail apparently considered was trucking the lifts to friendlier locales. Last Wednesday, as part of its year-end earnings release, Vail announced that the two lifts would be moved to Whistler and installed in time for the 2023-24 ski season. The eight-pack will replace the 1,129-vertical-foot Fitzsimmons high-speed quad on Whistler, giving the mountain 18 seats (!) out of the village (the lift runs alongside the 10-passenger Whistler Village Gondola). The six-pack will replace the Jersey Cream high-speed quad on Blackcomb, a midmountain lift with a 1,230-foot vertical rise.The whole episode is still one of the dumber things I'm aware of. There are like 80 lifts in Park City and two more (replacements, not all-new lines), apparently would have knocked the planet off its axis and sent us caterwauling into the sun. It's enough to make you un-see all the human goodness in Whistler's magical lift queues. More here.On Fitzsimmons 8's complex lineAmong the challenges of re-engineering the Fitzsimmons 8 for Whistler was the fact that the lift had to pass under the Whistler Village Gondola:Trembath and I talk a little about Fitz's download capability. Team Whistler sent over some additional information following our chat, indicating that the winter download capacity is four riders per chair (part of the original lift design, when it was meant for Park City). Summer download, for bike park operations, is limited to one passenger (a lower capacity than the original design).On Whistler's bike parkI'm not Bike Park Bro, though I could probably be talked into it fairly easily if I didn't already spend half the year wandering around the country in search of novel snowsportskiing operations. I do, however, ride my bike around NYC just about every day from May through October-ish, which in many ways resembles the giant jungle gyms that are downhill mountain bike parks, just with fewer jumps and a higher probability of decapitation by box truck.Anyway Whistler supposedly has the best bike park this side of Neptune, and we talk about it a bit, and so I'll include the trailmap even though I'd have a better chance of translating ancient Aramaic runes etched into a cave wall than I would of explaining exactly what's happening here:On Jersey Cream “not looking like much” on the trailmapBecause Whistler's online trailmap is shrunken to fit the same rectangular container that every ski map fills in the Webosphere, it fails to convey the scale of the operation (the paper version, which you can acquire if you slip a bag of gold bars and a map to the Lost City of Atlantis to a clerk at the guest services desk, is aptly called a “mountain atlas” and better captures the breadth of the place). The Jersey Cream lift and pod, for example, presents on the trailmap as an inconsequential connector lift between the Glacier Express and Rendezous station, where three other lifts convene. But this is a 1,230-vertical-foot, 4,647-foot-long machine that could, were you to hack it from the earth and transport it into the wilderness, be a fairly substantial ski area on its own. For context, 1,200 vertical feet is roughly the rise of Eldora or Monarch, or, for Easterners, Cranmore or Black Mountain.On the Whistler and Blackcomb masterplansUnlike the U.S. American Forest Service, which often fails to post ski area master development plans on their useless 1990s vintage websites, the British Columbia authorities have neatly organized all of their province's masterplans on one webpage. Whistler and Blackcomb mountains each file separate plans, last updated in 2013. That predates Vail Resorts' acquisition by three years, and Trembath and I discuss how closely (or not), these plans align with the company's current thinking around the resort.Whistler Mountain:Blackcomb Mountain:On Vail's Australian ski areasTrembath, at different points, oversaw all three of Vail Resorts' Australian ski areas. Though much of that tenure predated Vail's acquisitions (of Hotham and Falls Creek in 2019), she ran Perisher (purchased in 2015), for a year before leaping to the captain's chair at Whistler. Trembath provides a terrific breakdown of each of the three ski areas, and they look like a lot of fun:Perisher:Falls Creek:Hotham:On Sugar Bowl ParallelsTrembath's story follows a similar trajectory to that of Bridget Legnavsky, whose decades-long career in New Zealand included running a pair of that country's largest ski resorts. She then moved to North America to run a large ski area – in her case, Sugar Bowl near Lake Tahoe's North Shore. She appeared on the podcast in March.On Merlin EntertainmentI was unfamiliar with Merlin Entertainment, the former owner of Falls Creek and Hotham. The company is enormous, and owns Legoland Parks, Madame Tussauds, and dozens of other familiar brands.On Whistler and Blackcomb as formerly separate ski areasLike Park City (formerly Park City and Canyons) and Palisades Tahoe (formerly Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley), Whistler and Blackcomb were once separate ski areas. Here's the stoke version of the mountains' joint history (“You were either a Whistler skier, or you were a Blackcomb skier”):On First Nations' language on lifts and the Gondola Gallery projectAs Whistler builds new lifts, the resort tags the lift terminals with names in English and First Nations languages. From Pique Magazine at the opening of the Fitzsimmons eight-pack last December:Whistler Mountain has a brand-new chairlift ready to ferry keen skiers and snowboarders up to mid-mountain, with the rebuilt Fitzsimmons Express opening to guests early on Dec. 12. …“Importantly, this project could not have happened without the guidance and counsel of the First Nations partners,” said Trembath.“It's so important to us that their culture continues to be represented across these mountains in everything we do.”In keeping with those sentiments, the new Fitzsimmons Express is emblazoned with First Nations names alongside its English name: In the Squamish language, it is known as Sk_wexwnách, for Valley Creek, and in the Lil'wat language, it is known as Tsíqten, which means Fish Spear.New chairlifts are given First Nations names at Whistler Blackcomb as they are installed and opened.Here's Fitzsimmons:And Big Red, a sixer installed two years ago:Whistler also commissioned First Nations artists to wrap two cabins on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola. From Daily Hive:The Peak 2 Peak gondola, which connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, is showing off artwork created by First Nations artists, which can be seen by mountain-goers at BC's premiere ski resort.Vail Resorts commissioned local Indigenous artists to redesign two gondola cabins. Levi Nelson of Lil'wat Nation put his stamp on one with “Red,” while Chief Janice George and Buddy Joseph of Squamish Nation have created “Wings of Thunder.” …“Red is a sacred colour within Indigenous culture, representing the lifeblood of the people and our connection to the Earth,” said Nelson, an artist who excels at contemporary Indigenous art. “These shapes come from and are inspired by my ancestors. To be inside the gondola, looking out through an ovoid or through the Ancestral Eye, maybe you can imagine what it's like to experience my territory and see home through my eyes.”“It's more than just the techniques of weaving. It's about ways of being and seeing the world. Passing on information that's meaningful. We've done weavings on murals, buildings, reviving something that was put away all those decades ago now,” said Chief Janice George and Buddy Joseph.“The significance of the Thunderbird being on the gondola is that it brings the energy back on the mountain and watching over all of us.”A pic:On Native American issues in the U.S.I referenced conflicts between U.S. ski resorts and Native Americans, without providing specifics. The Forest Service cited objections from Native American communities, among other factors, in recommending a “no action” alternative to Lutsen Mountains' planned expansion last year. The Washoe tribe has attempted to “reclaim” land that Diamond Peak operates on. The most prominent dispute, however, has been a decades-long standoff between Arizona Snowbowl and indigenous tribes. Per The Guardian in 2022:The Arizona Snowbowl resort, which occupies 777 acres (314 hectares) on the mountain's slope, has attracted skiers during the winter and spring for nearly a century. But its popularity has boomed in recent years thanks to growing populations in Phoenix, a three hour's drive away, and neighbouring Flagstaff. During peak ski season, the resort draws upwards of 3,000 visitors a day.More than a dozen Indigenous nations who hold the mountain sacred have fought Snowbowl's existence since the 1930s. These include the Pueblo of Acoma, Fort McDowell Yavapai; Havasupai; Hopi; Hualapai; Navajo; San Carlos Apache; San Juan Southern Paiute; Tonto Apache; White Mountain Apache; Yavapai Apache, Yavapai Prescott, and Pueblo of Zuni. They say the resort's presence has disrupted the environment and their spiritual connection to the mountain, and that its use of treated sewage effluent to make snow is akin to baptizing a baby with wastewater.Now, a proposed $60m expansion of Snowbowl's facilities has brought simmering tensions to a boil.The US Forest Service, the agency that manages the national forest land on which Snowbowl is built, is weighing a 15-year expansion proposal that would bulk up operations, increase visitation and add new summer recreational facilities such as mountain biking trails, a zip line and outdoor concerts. A coalition of tribes, meanwhile, is resisting in unprecedented ways.The battle is emblematic of a vast cultural divide in the American west over public lands and how they should be managed. On one side are mostly financially well-off white people who recreate in national forests and parks; on the other are Indigenous Americans dispossessed from those lands who are struggling to protect their sacred sites.“Nuva'tukya'ovi is our Mount Sinai. Why can't the forest service understand that?,” asks Preston.On the tight load at the 7th Heaven liftYikes:Honestly it's pretty organized and the wait isn't that long, but this is very popular terrain and the trails could handle a higher-capacity lift (nearly everyone skis the Green Line trail or one of the blue groomers off this lift, leaving hundreds of acres of off-piste untouched; it's pretty glorious).On Wizard and Solar CoasterEvery local I spoke with in Whistler grumped about the Blackcomb Gondola, which replaced the Wizard and Solar Coaster high-speed quads in 2018. While the 10-passenger gondy substantively follows the same lines, it fails to provide the same mid-mountain fast-lap firepower that Solar Coaster once delivered. Both because removing your skis after each lap is a drag, and because many skiers ride the gondola up to Rendezvous, leaving fewer free mid-mountain seats than the empty quad chairs once provided. Here's a before-and-after:On Whistler's season passWhistler's season pass, which is good at Whistler Blackcomb and only Whistler Blackcomb, strangely costs more ($1,047 U.S.) than a full Epic Pass ($1,004 U.S.), which also provides unlimited access to Whistler and Vail's other 41 ski areas. It's weird. Trembath explains.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 42/100 in 2024, and number 542 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe